No Exception
by Kyashu
Summary: Robin wouldn't give up this life for anything.


This was a hit on Tumblr, somehow. I'm not sure if I like this one. It was an idea I thought was good and others liked it. Maybe if other people like it, I'll make it kind of a series. I've got a lot of notes for this story that I didn't use. I hope you enjoy this~!

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><p>Another night, another threat. Such is the routine of the superhero. For as predictable as it might be, Robin wouldn't give it up for the world.<p>

Tonight, or rather this morning, was no exception. It was a quarter past two in the morning and Slade was trying to destroy the city. In a move that was horrifically similar to the drug induced illusions from the mask dust, Slade was attempting to break the city by using explosives. Robin would have thought he was dreaming if Slade hadn't sent a message to the Tower and the others hadn't seen it.

The Titans had split up, each moving to disarm the bombs before Jump City was reduced to a crater. Robin was going to the source to try to stop Slade and get the detonator.

Slade was in the very center of the city on the roof of one of the tallest buildings. He made no attempt to hide from Robin. Slade had to have seen him coming, but didn't try to stop the hero from climbing all the way up. Standing in the middle of the roof, Slade looked like he didn't have a care in the world.

"I thought you'd wised up about of all this after Trigon," Robin commented as he pulled out his bo staff. He made sure to take a defensive stance rather than attack Slade directly; otherwise man would probably trigger the bombs.

"Will you ever give up this dream of being a hero, Dick?" Slade's voice sounded far more tired than Robin had ever heard. He would have taken more of an interest in that, if he hadn't been freaking out about the fact that Slade knew his identity.

Robin jerked back. He brought his bo staff up as if it could hide him better than his mask had. "How do you know my name?"

Slade let out a humorless laugh. "I know everything about you, Dick. I've only been trying to help you for the last five years."

Robin had to scoff at that. "Helping me? You think trying to hurt my friends and destroy things is helping me! I figured you had delusions of grandeur, but I didn't think you were just delusional in general."

"Think, Dick!" Slade yelled. "Things don't make sense here! Why do all these villains choose to come here? Why is it that you and your friends never seem to age? Look at all the things in the world that don't add up for once!"

Robin unconsciously took a step back. He had seen Slade angry before, but never like this. Gone was the calm, smug mastermind who was always three steps ahead of everyone. Instead all that was left was a frustrated man in a mask.

"There- there are a lot of things that can explain that," Robin tried to brush away Slade's points, but couldn't help but think about them. Slade was right, things didn't add up. But was he really going to believe the words a man known for playing mind games? "You're just trying to confuse me. You just want me to let my guard down so you can try to make me your apprentice or something."

Slade raised his hand to his forehead and released a low groan of frustration. "Dick, Robin, whatever you'd like to be called, please. They want to shut this down and this is my last chance to try to wake you up."

"Wake me up? What do you mean?" Robin wasn't sure how to react to any of this. Slade was acting frighteningly out of character.

The man moved his hand to the back of his head and hesitated for a second before removing his mask. Robin just gaped at him, unable to believe that he was finally seeing his worst adversary's face. Slade dropped his mask to the ground and stared at Robin with his one good eye. "Do you know what happened to your parents?"

Robin was getting frustrated himself now. Slade had to be just trying to screw up his head. He had probably made up this entire story to try to make Robin question himself. But Robin wasn't going to fall for it. Just as he came to that conclusion, his communicator chimed. Grabbing it to see who was messaging him, Robin was happy to hear the news from Cyborg. "Robin, we've disabled the bombs. Get Slade!"

Robin smirked. "Sorry Slade. I'm sure you had a great story to tell me, but I don't want to hear it." Robin charged at the unmasked man intending to finally have him arrested. Slade looked shocked, but then his expression changed to sad acceptance. The man grabbed his bo staff inches before it would have come down on his head and threw both it and Robin across the roof. Robin was only down for a second, but when he got back up Slade was gone.

Disappointed, but not surprised, Robin made his way back to the Tower to rejoin his friends and get some sleep. They'd catch Slade someday, even if it wasn't today.

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><p>The white haired man stood over the sleeping boy. For five years he had used state of the art virtual reality technology to try to bring Dick Grayson out of a coma, but to no avail. And now they were shutting it down.<p>

Slade Wilson sighed. "I'd hoped that he'd listen this time."

His assistant, Terra Markov, put a hand on his arm. "You tried your best. Dick's mind… just doesn't want to wake up."

Slade didn't have anything to say to that. He just walked out of the room and hoped Dick would be happy in his dream.


End file.
